Building resilience of Muanda’s communities from coastal erosion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Introduction

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s coastal zone stretches 40 km and comprises of the towns of Muanda, Banana and Nsiamfumu. The problem of coastal erosion has intensified since 1980 with significant retreat of the coast in the Banana-Muanda segment, this retreat has been estimated as much as 2,300 meters. In the future, the DRC can expect to see its territory reduced from 50-100 m on its coastal area.

In order to address this problem in its entirety, this UNDP-supported project in Muanda aims to address the root causes of information gaps, lack of technical knowledge to effectively support communities to identify, plan, design and implement adaptation options. The project has two main components, which will employ resources to support coastal management planning process (Outcome 1) and implement urgent and immediate adaptation measures in the most vulnerable coastal communities of Muanda (Outcome 2).

Key Results and Outputs

The project has two main components with the following outcomes –

Integration of climate risks information into relevant planning policies through the mapping of climate change induced coastal erosion risk profile (Outcome 1.1); Development of guidelines and roadmap for the inclusion and the provision of climate smart finance into Muanda Urban development Plan (Outcome 1.2); Dissemination of knowledge and the design of an effective communication strategy to enhance understanding of climate change risks in the coastal zone, associated adaptation options costs/benefits, supporting policy planning policy process and sharing results and lessons generated from interventions made through this initiative (Outcome 1.3)

Investment in coastal defence and monitoring including establishment of a climate risk monitoring system o monitor/record real-time coastal erosion/sea level rise observations and to support the development of an Early Warning System (EWS) of coastal risk for local coastal communities (Outcome 2.1); The pilot of a menu of “soft” (re-vegetation, land planning, etc.) and “hard” adaptation measures (composite beach revetments, off shore breakwater, etc.) to stabilize cliffs, secure the operations of docking and unloading of fishing and minimise losses (Outcome 2.2); Implementation of small-scale community-based adaptation initiatives among the Youth and Womens’ Association in Muanda focused on developing alternative climate resilient livelihood opportunities (Outcome 2.3).